(Except clauses 4, 19, 23, 26 to 29, 87 to 92, 131 and 134 and schedules 1, 5 and 38) - Clause 3 - Duty on beverages made with spirits to be at spirits rate
Finance Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell, Conservative)
I echo the remarks welcoming you to the Chair this afternoon, Mr. Benton.
I raised a number of issues in the discussion of the cider amendment. I particularly want to pick up on the comments made this morning in an intervention by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Ann McKechin). She referred to the clear fact that the existence of alcopops has generated substantial new drinking among, in particular, young women, and has led to problems of alcoholism. I do not dispute her comments, but in making them she highlighted an important issue that underlies the inadequacy of the step that the Government are taking.
My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch rightly said that if steps of the kind set out in clause 3 are to be taken, they need to be taken on the back of a proper assessment of the situation. The comments by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill highlighted the fact that that has not been done. In my experience, women do not originate antisocial behaviour of the kind that is a bane to so many residents of town centres. This is not an exclusive situation, but generally speaking it is not women who go around vandalising property, putting graffiti on walls and smashing up cars late at night, but young men. The hon. Lady unwittingly highlighted the fact that clause 3 will not address the problems of excessive drinking in young men. It will, perhaps, discourage alcoholism in young women, but it will not deal with antisocial behaviour.
If there is to be a proper assessment, it should reflect the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch that young men tend to drink beers and ciders, particularly when they are underage, far more than alcopops. A broad-ranging assessment of the
differing impacts of different kinds of alcohol and the differing impacts of differing levels of duty on different kinds of alcohol would lead the Government to come forward with a coherent strategy that said, ''We have a problem in our society. It is not helped by aspects of the excise system, which we therefore need to modify.'' That would give them credible authority to take the steps that they hope to take, but there is nothing in the one-off clause that enables them to do so.
The reference to the chief medical officer's report can be interpreted as an alibi for a revenue-raising measure, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch has said, will damage parts of the industry. The Government must do better. They must come up with a clear assessment of the impact of alcohol on antisocial behaviour and put forward proposals, which can be openly and clearly debated, about the way in which the excise system can be structured to help tackle that problem. That argument is not addressed by clause 3. The amendment put forward by my hon. Friend is one way in which to begin a proper debate about the differing impact of excise levels on different kinds of alcohol, and it deserves the Committee's support.